BarleyNY

Eberflus is awful. December 11th.

I watched RZ for the first time ever on Sunday. It was a bit much for me. Nice if I am not going to pay much attention to the tv, but not if I want to get a feel for any particular game. And I watched it on a small tv at a rental so that didn’t help. Spot on about four games running simultaneously.

I disagree. Von Miller is truly an elite pass rusher when healthy. If we get him back near 100% at some point, then he will make a huge difference. But otherwise we only have a solid pass rush. Not terrible by any stretch, but far from elite. I saw some encouraging play by the defense today though. Despite the slew of injuries on that side of the ball, they kept us in the game. Oliver had a couple boneheaded penalties early that turned 3 Jaguar points into 8, but beyond that I was very proud of how the defense played today.

Yes. Most zone defenses - including the Bills - incorporate pattern matching. Zone schemes that are strictly players covering grass are not very effective against today’s NFL.

You can’t tell anything from Wingfest except if you like a sauce. When I went all of the wings were cooked at a central location and sauced at the stalls. Not a good time if you like crispy wings. I’ll never go again.

Spotrac - Tre White Injury settlements have to be agreed to by a team and player/agent. They are almost always used in cases in which a young player wants to get back in the field ASAP. Obviously that doesn’t apply here. Tre’s contract has a $1.5M roster bonus due at the start of the next league year. That is very important in cases in which a player has sustained a football injury because that means they can’t simply be cut. But that’s why roster bonuses exist. Teams are under no obligation to pay them (except when they are guaranteed). That is likely what happens here. Tre is a Bill until March of next year when the Bills decline to pay the roster bonus.

I am enjoying this W much more than most. My focus this week is not saying anything that would jinx the team.

Thank you for putting a very reasonable trade idea out here. I’d be down for this. It’s fair and would give two highly drafted players a change of scenery and scheme. From the Bill’s perspective, Bateman would be moving to an overall situation that is better structured and executed in a more typical NFL fashion. Props for a very good idea.

You didn't take offense to hem calling the Bills a "great team"? Them's fightin' words......

There’s also the matter of keeping him beyond this season. Also Adams’ salary is only $6M because of his signing bonus. That SB would create a huge cap hit for LV if they traded him now. So LV couldn’t trade him even if they’d want to - and I’m sure they don’t want to.

Daboll isn’t getting fired this season - and he wouldn’t work for McDermott again if he was looking for work. I don’t think Daboll is tied to Jones there either. Trying to fix him was option A. They’ll likely be looking for option B before next season, which will likely be Jones’s last there.

That's all fair and I don’t watch that stuff anyway so I don’t have firsthand knowledge. But I am sure that teams have very tight control over their reporters. It’s certainly possible that she doesn’t know much about football. But it’s also possible that the Bills have her limited to doing more fluff.

I don’t think that the “no insights” criticism is valid. She is employed by the Bills, so she reports what they tell her to report. She would not make any insightful comments unless directed to do so. The further away from the Bills someone is, the better they can discuss such things. She’s as close as you can get.

Yup, they should have tested him. But that would have been tough to do days after he signed his record breaking contract. I’m sure he wanted to play, but I don’t think his throwing motion is right.

I agree. He is not a “bend the edge” DE. He’s exactly the guy you want to move inside. Maybe when Miller gets back.

It was also my first thought when I read the OP.

Agreed. Most fans project how they’d feel. They don’t understand that players who let fan criticism negatively affect them are quickly out of the league. If Allen doesn’t succeed it won’t be because of anything said by fans on a message board or the media.

Agreed. Getting criticized is part of the package deal that also includes incredible wealth and fame.

They can, but they have to improve. I’m not saying they can or they can’t make the necessary changes, but there is a cap on their level of success until they do.

agree on the dogfights in the AFCE & AFCN. That’s lessened in the E with the demise of Rogers though.

The Ravens are another team that could lose its QB. While the Chargers always seem to disappoint I think they make the playoffs as a WC. As for Jets and Pats, how many AFCE teams do you think can make it? Wouldn’t that make it all 4? That’s not going to happen. Also if another team loses its QB for the season, it’ll obviously have a domino effect. If Tua goes down then sure; maybe the Pats squeak in. 7 have to make it. Look at the NFC. There weren’t 7 worthy teams last season (and probably won’t be this season), but they’ll take 7.

LOL. No. My list coming into the season was the same 8 AFC teams vying for 7 playoff spots. I figured one or two teams would drop off due to injury - Miami and NYJ being the most likely. The Jets are now that first one off. I’ll reconsider if they acquire a quality QB. Further movement will take either another major injury or some other big development. No single team is a 100% lock though. so I don’t assume the teams you listed are locks. I’m just looking at the AFC and trying to figure out which teams are the best. Any team could lose its QB or have some other major issue, including the Bills. So it’s not that I wouldn’t change my list, but it’ll take more than a bad week or two by a team to change my opinion.

I’m sure the Jets are making calls to find another QB. I doubt they roll with Zach Wilson all season, but I don’t know that they’re getting a QB who’s good enough to get them where they want to go. If the Jets don’t find a decent replacement at QB then we scrape them off the probable AFC playoff contenders list and we have our likely 7. This is playoff contenders, not SB contenders. We’re left with: Bills Phins Bengals Browns Ravens Jags Chefs Chargers Something will likely change due to another major QB injury or the like, but I’d bet that list isn’t off by more than one team.

I just watched the condensed version of the game. I wonder if the Raiders lack of inside run defense was because they were playing to stop long passes. I know Russel Wilson has fallen off considerably, but he always had a very good deep ball. I don’t remember seeing him attempt anything downfield in that game. If that was by design, then I expect the Raiders to do the same on Sunday. That would require Allen to hit a lot of check downs and play small ball. Dorsey would have to call a lot of inside runs too. The Raidersp also have very good talent at DE. Crosby is a stud who I expect to go against the Bills weak link at RT. That might not go great. On offense the Raiders are better than the Jets without Rodgers. Grapes is way better than Zach Wilson. Both WR rooms have a stud, but the Raiders are deeper there. Their OL is better than the Jets too - especially at OT (where the Jets are trash). Combine all that with a short week and I see a much tougher game than the 9 point betting line. The Bills should be able to eke out a W at home, but they ALL need to come to play.

The best QBs properly regulate their risk taking. If they’re comfortably ahead, they get more and more conservative as the game winds down. If they are behind in the game, then they take more risks as time runs out. Analytics folks have risk taking by QBs plotted out versus time remaining and score differential. That’s overlayed with expected win percentage. Brady’s risk curve was a freaking perfect match to EWP. Also this was a (valid IMO) criticism of Rodgers - he did not take enough risks when his team was down big and/or late. I can only imagine what Allen’s looks like. It’s going to be embarrassing for her for sure. But it’s a hot mic that picked up a person who is knowledgeable speaking honestly.